Maybe I'm missing something, but walking into Epcot shortly after 9am and being able to pick a fast pass for Test Track or Soarin is an improvement over what exactly?
Or are there days now when that just isn't possible?
Maybe I'm missing something, but walking into Epcot shortly after 9am and being able to pick a fast pass for Test Track or Soarin is an improvement over what exactly?
Or are there days now when that just isn't possible?
Thank you for your reply. But it was not very helpful.
I believe I asked a valid question and would appreciate a valid response.
In my experience, unless you travel at very busy times of year FP+ is not even really necessary except for a handful of the most popular attractions. I booked ours at 60 days out at midnight for our trip last Sept and will do so again for this Aug, because I want to make sure I get those popular attractions at times that work for us. However, last year we found that, with the exception of those few very popular attractions (A&E, 7DMT, TSMM, TT, Soarin', nighttime entertainment), it was easy to change times or attractions for our FP+ reservations as we went along, and there was plenty of availability for almost everything. Obviously this depends on how late in the day it is when you are looking and how crowded the parks are, but in my experience FP+ is a lot more flexible in practice than it seems on paper.
In my experience, unless you travel at very busy times of year FP+ is not even really necessary except for a handful of the most popular attractions. I booked ours at 60 days out at midnight for our trip last Sept and will do so again for this Aug, because I want to make sure I get those popular attractions at times that work for us. However, last year we found that, with the exception of those few very popular attractions (A&E, 7DMT, TSMM, TT, Soarin', nighttime entertainment), it was easy to change times or attractions for our FP+ reservations as we went along, and there was plenty of availability for almost everything. Obviously this depends on how late in the day it is when you are looking and how crowded the parks are, but in my experience FP+ is a lot more flexible in practice than it seems on paper.
DS texted me just tried to change a FP+ in the MK and he was offered Anna & Elsa for a decent time. Last week they booked FP+ for today and got Wishes and 7DMT - one week out. I have to admit since we go often I'm not one that books at 60 days even if I'm staying onsite. And I have usually been pretty successful at getting all the hard ones. I think maybe one trip we didn't get TSMM. There really are so many variables, when you travel, are you rope drop people, are you evening people, do you like EMH? Last month DS and I went to the MK at 10:30 pm and stayed until 2:45 am and we did practically everything and some twice.
I booked 60 days out at midnight because we were going to be in the parks the week before - and over - Easter, and I wanted to lock down the things we 'had' to do. Would I book FP's that way again? Yes. Better safe than sorry.
But for all the doom and gloom about FP unavailability, I was able to go onto MDE Good Friday evening around 8 pm (my family made a last minute decision to switch our park from Epcot to MK on the Saturday), and was able to book Buzz for 7 pm, Space for 8, Splash for 9 and Big Thunder for 10. I wholly expected to be stuck with Barnstormer followed by Barnstormer followed by Barnstormer, and ended up with all 3 mountains. At least FOR ME, MDE worked much better than expected - your mileage may vary.
We luckily had Soarin' suddenly pop up in the afternoon after checking and finding nothing. The kiosk CM said that she hadn't seen any Soarin' available since early morning so we were lucky. There was just the two of us that day too which probably helped.DS texted me just tried to change a FP+ in the MK and he was offered Anna & Elsa for a decent time. Last week they booked FP+ for today and got Wishes and 7DMT - one week out.
I have to admit since we go often I'm not one that books at 60 days even if I'm staying onsite. And I have usually been pretty successful at getting all the hard ones. I think maybe one trip we didn't get TSMM. We booked hard ones for MLK weekend a week out.
There really are so many variables, when you travel, are you rope drop people, are you evening people, do you like EMH? Last month DS and I went to the MK at 10:30 pm and stayed until 2:45 am and we did practically everything and some twice.
We luckily had Soarin' suddenly pop up in the afternoon after checking and finding nothing. The kiosk CM said that she hadn't seen any Soarin' available since early morning so we were lucky. There was just the two of us that day too which probably helped.
What percentage of visitors seem to be using FP+? Has that ever been mentioned? I seem to remember numbers for MDE but are there any for FP+ itself?
DS texted me just tried to change a FP+ in the MK and he was offered Anna & Elsa for a decent time. Last week they booked FP+ for today and got Wishes and 7DMT - one week out.
I have to admit since we go often I'm not one that books at 60 days even if I'm staying onsite. And I have usually been pretty successful at getting all the hard ones. I think maybe one trip we didn't get TSMM. We booked hard ones for MLK weekend a week out.
There really are so many variables, when you travel, are you rope drop people, are you evening people, do you like EMH? Last month DS and I went to the MK at 10:30 pm and stayed until 2:45 am and we did practically everything and some twice.